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Lotto jackpot: What to do if you find yourself $45 million richer on Wednesday

Source: Radio New Zealand

Winners with a physical ticket can take it to a shop they bought it from and fill out a form, or go to the Lotto head office in Auckland. Supplied / Lotto NZ

Lotto has jackpotted to $45 million for Wednesday’s draw – but what would you do if you won it? While you might have a wishlist of houses, cars, travel and shopping, one financial adviser who has previously advised winners says there are a few things you should know.

Tim Fairbrother, of Rival Wealth, said people who won were often in a state of disbelief initially.

If you win when you’re playing online, you will be sent a prize claim form.

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Winners with a physical ticket can take it to a shop they bought it from and fill out a form, or go to the Lotto head office in Auckland.

In most cases, Lotto staff try to meet in person with winners to talk to them about what will happen (there is champagne offered).

Winners are given a booklet that proclaims on the front “This is not a dream”.

In it, it offers tip on how to handle a life-changing amount of money.

Secure the ticket

Fairbrother said many people spent some time carrying the ticket around before they claimed their win, because they almost could not believe it had happened.

“If you’re telling everyone that you won but you haven’t’ secured your ticket then that can be a bit of a problem – perhaps if the ticket is suddenly not in the place you thought it was going to be.”

If you aren’t going straight to claim, keep the ticket somewhere very safe.

Deposit the money into a savings account

Lotto advises that the money should be paid into an interest-earning account while you work out your next steps.

If you win Powerball, it says, it can give you the details of the person at your bank who can help you with depositing the money.

Some people do not want this to go through heir local branch.

Think about who to tell

Lotto said people should carefully consider who they wanted to tell about their win.

Fairbrother agreed. He said if it became common knowledge, the money could change people.

“Especially big amounts of money. It might not be you, it might be the people around you who suddenly have their hands out thinking ‘man, this is going to be good for me’.”

People were likely to encourage winners to invest in various things, or spend their money in certain ways – he said these should be approached with caution.

Have a plan

Lotto advises that people think about what they want to do with their money, have a plan and list of goals and check in on it regularly.

Fairbrother said people could work with an adviser to talk through their ideas and come up with a strategy.

“Make sure you have got the right accountant and lawyer so that you’re getting your structure right for tax and optimising what that looks like.”

He said those discussions would usually involve talking to people about what was important to them.

“What are your overarching goals now you’ve won this money? It might be a million dollars, which is amazing. But it might be $44m, which is epically life-changing, isn’t it?

“If you’re living in a $600,000 home you might want to go and extend the house, build a tennis court and swimming pool, or sell it altogether.

“How much do you want people to know this has happened to you? If you go and sell your $600,000 house and buy a $4m house, people are going to start asking questions.’

An investment portfolio would be structured according to a person’s wishes, he said.

Some might want to invest in commercial property, or a residential development including a number of homes.

“Or it might be saying I don’t want to deal with any of that, I’m just going to put it into a managed portfolio,. It’s going to be a mix of those things and it’s going to be a steep learning curve. You don’t need to go about it quickly, there’s no point rushing and doing things fast.”

Some purchases would be investments and others would depreciate, he said.

Knowing the difference would help to make wealth last.

“I knew of someone many years ago before I was a financial adviser, who a significant amount in Lotto and basically within three years he had got rid of it all by buying expensive cars and not understanding those expensive cars are going to be depreciating assets.

“By the time you drive it off the lot it loses 20 percent or whatever, then two or three years later it is down 60 percent.”

Pay off debt

If you win a smaller amount than $44m, it usually makes sense to use it to pay off debt.

Fairbrother said people with a mortgage would usually want to pay that off. “That puts them in a whole different financial position going forward into the future where they’re now able to save each month as opposed to paying the bank for their mortgage.”

Be careful with gifting

Many people wanted to give money to others, Fairbrother said, particularly to help their kids buy houses.

“If you want to give it, it’s better to do what they call an interest-free loan payable on demand.

“That means if there are problems in the future with their own relationships or whatever they might be, you can ask them to pay the money back. If you give a couple $100,000 then as soon as it goes into their account it becomes relationship property whereas if you loan it to them then you can ask to have to back again in the future.”

Write a will

Fairbrother said as soon as people had that much money to their name, they needed to do some estate planning.

A will would be essential to avoid disputes if something happened to them.

“You’re not going to end up with your children arguing over the fact you promised them more for any particular reason.”

Tax

Lotto winners do not have to pay tax on their price, as in some other countries.

But they also cannot have it paid as an annual income, it has to be a lump sum.

You don’t have to declare it as income if you’re getting a benefit unless you receive the accommodation supplement, temporary additional support or special benefit.

But any income you make from your money will reduce your eligibility for support.

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Economy strangled by lack of competition, policy makers ‘captured’ – campaigner

Source: Radio New Zealand

Three of the big four Australian-owned banks have reported large profits in the past week. RNZ / Dom Thomas

The New Zealand economy is dying a death of a thousand cuts from the vice-like grip of monopolies in key sectors, according to a leading competition campaigner.

Monopoly Watch leader Tex Edwards said the large profits reported by three of the big four Australian-owned banks in the past week highlighted the power of a handful of companies, and the inability of policy markers to bring them to heel.

“When we look at why the economy is underperforming, it’s almost death by a thousand cuts, or in this case death by 10 or 20 cuts, because there 10 or 20 monopolies that are extracting monopoly rents.

“Supermarkets, electricity companies, airports, insurance companies, and banks are under scrutiny and what we’re seeing is a continued amount of tinkering and pampering instead of structural reform.”

Over the past week ANZ, BNZ, and Westpac reported full year results, with collective profits for the three of them of about $5.2 billion.

More regulation needed

Edwards said the banking sector needed further regulatory intervention to bring benefits for consumers, but he said various select committee inquiries, a Commerce Commission banking study, and regulator scrutiny had achieved little.

He said the large banks had been adept in selling the message that they were bringing capital into the country, paying significant taxes, supporting economic activity, and supporting increased competition in a sector that they had more than 80 percent of.

“They’ve used this to confuse politicians and policy makers as to how competition would evolve.”

Edwards said the banks had surrounded themselves with PR and policy lobbyists, who had effectively “captured” policy makers, politicians, and regulators.

He said comments by politicians that they hoped the big banks would pass on Reserve Bank rate cuts more quickly were “naive”.

He said the big four had also slowed the introduction of open banking, which would allow third party financial businesses to offer competing financial services, by taking time to modernise their technical systems.

“New Zealand banks have delayed open banking, because it would lower margins and lower profitability.”

He advocated that Payments NZ, which managed the payments system that settled transactions between banks, should be taken out of the control of the eight banks which own it.

Previously, Monopoly Watch has also called for ANZ to be forced to divest the National Bank of NZ, which it was allowed to take over in 2003, and was fully merged in 2012.

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Stakeholders have confidence in the country’s financial markets, FMA says

Source: Radio New Zealand

Financial Markets Authority chief executive Samantha Barrass. Supplied

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) says stakeholders are more confident in its performance.

Its annual report and the attendant Ease of Doing Business (EODB) survey shows 84 percent of respondents have confidence in the country’s financial markets, a similar level to last year

The ease of doing business survey seeks feedback from stakeholders and industry participants to understand the effectiveness of their interactions with the FMA, and their views on FMA’s overall effectiveness in delivering its mandate.

Chief Executive Samantha Barrass said after a decline in a number of key indicators in last year’s survey, a year of hard work and extensive industry engagement saw better results from this year.

“Overall belief that the FMA’s actions help raise standards of market conduct and integrity is up slightly, at 82 percent this year, but still behind our ambitious 90  percent target.”

The financial markets regulator said it had improved its communications and engagement measures with the industry, and 74 percent of participants found FMA communication clear, concise, and effective, an improvement on last year’s 63 percent.

Still work to do

The regulator is still seen falling short on several measures, which only marginally improved from last year.

It is still regarded as too bureaucratic, with just 55 percent of the industry believing it develops and implements streamlined processes; a slight improvement from 48 percent last year.

Only 56 percent agreed it was easy doing business with the Authority, a marginal improvement from 53 percent a year ago.

The FMA had achieved nine of 12 targets, but still had work to do improving its systems and processes, which may have dragged its overall rating lower, Barrass said.

“We are committed to improving and modernising our systems, to uplift performance and support new features.”

Barrass said regulating the financial markets continues to be a balancing act which may have affected their confidence and market integrity ratings.

“We note comments vary between those who favour more enforcement and those who favour lighter regulation, perhaps reflecting tensions in the balance the FMA seeks to strike- between the need to make it easier for the financial sector to do business with the need to ensure integrity.”

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How a tattoo icon’s designs live on in Wellington

Source: Radio New Zealand

Roger Ingerton opened Roger’s Tatooart in Wellington’s Cuba Street in 1977 – and worked from the premises until he retired in 2009.

The studio had received a dramatic facelift, but its legendary founder’s designs, photographs and paintings still fill nearly every spare inch of wallspace.

Cuba Street studio a ‘mecca’ for tattoo fans

Andre Röck – known in the tattoo industry as Dre – said Ingerton’s shop was “a tattoo mecca” and had drawn people dedicated to skin art from all over the world.

He said Ingerton spearheaded a turning point in the art form, stepping beyond the reproduction of small individual designs – or flash – to creating works of ambitious scope and size.

“He had an art background and focussed on custom work, custom one-off pieces. Big cohesive pieces. He worked with full sleeves, full back pieces and body suits with designs that flowed and complimented the body,” Röck said.

Dre Röck.

RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Ingerton’s studio had remained almost completely unaltered since he retired – leaving the shop in the hands of fellow tattooist Tom Downs.A wealth of artwork and imagery

Dre – who also created Lucky’s Tattoo Museum in Upper Hutt – said sorting through the wealth of artwork and imagery inside the space was a painstaking labour of love.

“There was just layers – over the years – accumulated of his artwork. Flash and photos of the work that he did, paintings, line drawings, all types.

“So what I had to do was cherry pick the pieces that were the most iconic. Filtering through it all took some time,” Röck said.

The ‘first modern moko’

Ingerton was also acknowledged as one of the first tattooists to recreate tā moko designs with modern tattoo machines.

A 1976 article in Wellington newspaper The Evening Post breathlessly detailed the impact of Porirua teacher Tawai Hauraki Te Rangi’s traditional moko kauae – or chin tattoo – describing it as the “first modern moko” while keeping the identity of the artist under wraps.

Roger Ingerton in the early 70s.

Supplied

But just over a decade later Ingerton would tell Wellington’s Dominion newspaper he did his first tā moko in 1976.

He said he was daunted by taking on the tattoo and worked alongside kaumātua to ensure the design was respectful.

Tawai Hauraki Te Rangi‘s portrait was still hanging in the corner of the shop where Ingerton worked and where Tom Down’s workstation was now located.

Ingerton ‘right up there’ with Aotearoa’s most respected artists

Emeritus professor and author, Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku was tattooed by Ingerton in the 80s and said he should be held among the country’s most respected artists.

“Because the world of tattoo and the art of marking skin has been demonised and sidelined for so many generations it never reached the attention of the arbiters of New Zealand fine arts. It was like a grubby, parlour, slum based activity that criminals and sailors and dodgy girls did.

RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

“In terms of design, skill, of the application of colour and the understanding of the person’s body Roger would make great works of art and they’re walking around, they’re alive, they’re out there.

“For me it is a legacy at least as great as McCahon. The only difference is that – where McCahon is collected and portable and gushed over – it doesn’t make [Roger’s] work any less art or him any less an artist. I believe absolutely that Roger is right up there,” Te Awekōtuku said.

Tattooist Derek Thunders said he leapt at the chance to work in the revamped shop after serving a portion of his apprenticeship there.

Derek Thunders at work.

RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

He said growing up on Cuba Street he would walk past Roger’s Tatooart on a daily basis but was reluctant to step inside.

“I kind of always thought it was somewhere that you might get laughed at or beaten up for saying the wrong thing. When I was working here – a couple of times – Roger stopped in to the shop. [The] most polite soft spoken gentleman that you could think of. I was like ‘oh, okay’,” Thunders said.

Now the shop was operating again – Thunders said he liked nothing more than being able to open the studio door and let the sound of old school, coil driven tattoo machines buzz out onto Cuba Street.

RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

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Companies could be missing out on productivity gains

Source: Radio New Zealand

A survey business leaders found two-thirds agreed productivity was a national problem. 123RF

A failure to measure the right things means many businesses could be missing out on productivity gains along with bigger profits for them and the wider economy.

A survey of 397 business leaders commissioned by Spark and conducted by Clemenger Group found two-thirds agreed productivity was a national problem, yet three-quarters (75%) believed their own business was ahead of competitors in adopting efficient processes.

“This suggests we might be measuring ourselves against the wrong benchmarks, or perhaps we’re not measuring the right things at all,” Spark chief technology and AI officer Matt Bain said.

A third of businesses (33%) used profit and customer satisfaction as indicators of productivity, while only 24 percent linked productivity improvements to time savings and operational improvements.

Bain said adopting the right technology could help businesses work smarter.

“We’ve witnessed first hand how the right digital tools, properly integrated, can unlock remarkable productivity gains,” he said.

“But we also know that technology alone isn’t the complete answer – it needs to be paired with the right mindset, skills and expertise, and willingness to improve in the right areas.”

Among the key findings was technology adoption was lagging.

While 75 percent of businesses agreed new technologies could deliver significant productivity gains, only 46 percent had fully or partially integrated cloud infrastructure, and just 29 percent were experimenting with AI tools.

The main obstacles to adopting new technologies were a lack of knowledge or expertise (42%), cost (40%), limited access to capital (38%), and resistance to change (36%).

Less than half of all businesses (45%) recognised the need for external expertise to maximise technology benefits.

“The tools exist, and the expertise is available. What’s needed now is a collective shift from ‘getting by’ to ‘getting ahead’, and the courage to take concrete action,” Bain said.

The study also includes a list of key actions that business leaders can take to lift productivity within their organisations, with a focus on improving connectivity alongside staff training and development.

The report, ‘Lifting productivity: Moving New Zealand from getting by to getting ahead’, was on Spark’s website

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List of products, businesses on Consumer NZ’s anti-awards

Source: Radio New Zealand

Among its winners were Pams plasters, which did not stick for as long as they needed to. 123RF

A lack of understanding from consumers and a lack of enforcement from regulators could be combining to give shoppers a raw deal, Consumer NZ says.

It has released the results of its latest “Yeah Nah” awards, which are designed to highlight consumer problems such as confusing messaging or products that don’t do the job they are meant to.

To be eligible, products had to either fail a legal standard, include hidden charges, make false claims, be an “absolute rip off” or have unclear messaging or design so that consumers were confused.

Pams plasters

Among its “winners” were Pams plasters, which did not stick for as long as they needed to.

“Alongside Pams, we trailed two basic plastic plasters from Elastoplast and Band-Aid.

“Each volunteer chose a place on their body, like their arm or leg, and stuck all three plasters there. Pams plasters just couldn’t hold on,” Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy said.

Foodstuffs has been approached for comment.

HelloFresh

HelloFresh made the list due to hard making it for customers to unsubscribe. RNZ / Dan Satherley

HelloFresh was also given an anti-award for how hard it made it for customers to unsubscribe from the meal kit service.

“The fact that it took four separate confirmations of cancellation before the cancellation was actioned didn’t help – it’s a bit like being stuck in an escape room,” Duffy said.

He said research respondents said it felt like HelloFresh did everything it could to stop them cancelling and one person compared it to a bad relationship break-up.

“Signing up to the service is so easy. But cancelling is significantly harder, which makes HelloFresh’s online design all the more frustrating.”

HelloFresh did not respond to RNZ queries.

It told Consumer NZ that it had a new pause and cancellation process but Duffy said it was not an improvement.

He said it should be as easy to unsubscribe as it was to subscribe in the first place.

“Fair play, If I’m looking to unsubscribe from your service, maybe offer me a special deal to retain me… that’s potentially good business, but the layers upon layers of hurdles and web design that is designed to lead you away from actually what you want to do is quite something to behold with HelloFresh.”

He said there was no law that stopped a business putting someone in a “20-minute downward spiral” of trying to interact with it to unsubscribe.

“We’re arguing there needs to be an amendment to the Fair Trading Act to cover what are called dark patterns. So that’s manipulative web design that’s designed to do what you don’t want it to do, to do something that’s in the interest of the business to your detriment as a consumer.

“Other jurisdictions are beginning to introduce what are called prohibitions on unfair trading practices, which cover this.

“But at the moment our Fair Trading Act has a big gap in it where a business isn’t misleading you by making it difficult for you to unsubscribe. They’re not saying you can’t unsubscribe, they’re just making it virtually impossible for you to technically do it. Which is legally compliant at the moment, but we don’t think it should be.”

Harvey Norman

Consumer NZ also raised concerns about Harvey Norman’s pricing.

Consumer tracked 10 products online over a nine-week period and found that Harvey Norman promised a “great price”, “super deal”, “huge deal” or a “massive stock sellout” every week on most of the 10.

“If a business constantly sells a product at a special price, that ‘special’ becomes the usual selling price. A sale must be a genuine opportunity to save, for a limited time,” Duffy said.

“When something says it’s on sale – you need to be able to trust it really is. Harvey Norman makes that surprisingly difficult to do.”

He said when Consumer asked a Harvey Norman spokesperson about its pricing practices, the spokesperson said the company’s practices were consistent with the “industry approach to pricing and labelling decisions”.

“If that’s the case, we’re giving the ‘industry approach’ a ‘yeah, nah’, too,” Duffy said.

Barkers

Barkers was highlighted for its potentially misleading terms and conditions.

Duffy said Consumer reviewed 30 online returns policies and found Barkers had potentially broken the rules by implying some items could not be returned.

“Our spot check found that Barkers’ online returns policy wasn’t up to scratch. You have the right to return any product that doesn’t meet the guarantees under the Consumer Guarantees Act. It’s that simple.

“A returns policy can’t overrule the law, and we think Barkers risked misleading their customers by setting out a range of limitations that are at odds with the customer’s rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act.

“Our interaction with Barkers has been really good and they’ve certainly taken on board our feedback and are looking to urgently review their policies. So that’s a really beneficial side of us doing this process.”

Other shops had similar issues but not to the same extent, he said.

“They’re obviously concerned that people are buying clothes, perhaps wearing them out to a party and then trying to get a refund for them by claiming that they’re faulty. But actually you’re not covered by the Consumer Guarantees Act if you do that.

“If clothes don’t genuinely have a fault and you just change your mind, you’re not entitled to a refund or a replacement.

“So Barkers don’t need to sail close to the wind with the wording in their policies that say things like there’s a 30-day limit for returning clothes. There is no limit in the law for returning an item if it’s not fit for purpose or it’s broken, or has a fundamental fault with it, you have rights.”

Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy. Jon Duffy

He said another issue that was seen was shops trying to ask people to pay to return items.

“The Consumer Guarantees Act says that it’s the retailer’s responsibility to manage returns.”

He said New Zealand consumers lacked an understanding of their rights and there was a lack of enforcement from regulations.

“I can remember in my 20s, there were quite active campaigns out of what used to be the Ministry of Consumer Affairs publishing set texts around refunds that stores would have on their counters.

“And we don’t see that level of activity anymore… consumer issues generally across government have been sidelined, I think, and particularly under the current government, they’re not a high priority.

“So the funding’s not there to do mass market campaigns and educate consumers.

“Secondly, we’re often dealing with multinationals here where they will write terms and conditions for their bigger markets and New Zealand just becomes a tack-on.

“There might be a lawyer sitting in Los Angeles trying to write a returns policy that complies with New Zealand law, and they might not get everything right because they’re not specialists in the jurisdiction.”

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Large-format retail property next to Sylvia Park to be sold

Source: Radio New Zealand

Supplied / Google Maps

Listed property company, Kiwi Property Group, is set to sell a large-format retail property next to its Sylvia Park complex in Auckland for $90 million.

The buyer will be a yet-to-be established fund, Mackersy LFR Fund, a large-format retail investment fund managed by Queenstown-based commercial property investor, Mackersy Property.

Kiwi Property chief executive Clive Mackenzie said it would continue to manage Sylvia Park Lifestyle, and the sale would provide capital for new developments and strengthen its balance sheet .

“By retaining a significant stake in the LFR Fund, we can continue to leverage our retail management and leasing capabilities to drive the performance of the asset on behalf of both Kiwi Property and LFR Fund investors.”

The deal is subject to Mackersy LFR raising the required funds by mid-December.

Kiwi Property has agreed to buy 50 percent of the units and underwrite another 25 percent, giving it up to 75 percent of the fund, while receiving between $52.9 million and $65.3 million cash for the sale of the property to the fund.

Mackersy chief executive Hamish Wilton said the new fund would suit wholesale investors to invest in large format retail, which tends to be resilient in all market conditions.

“Our valued relationship with Kiwi Property has meant we have been able to secure Sylvia Park Lifestyle as the initial seed asset for the fund.”

Sylvia Park Lifestyle covers 16,500 square metres and houses major retailers such as Animates and Spotlight.

Kiwi Property Group also invested in the parent company, Mackersy Property in November 2024, and expects this to convert to a 50 percent stake in December 2025.

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Country’s biggest property investor group evicted from Facebook

Source: Radio New Zealand

Property Investor Chat Group NZ administrators said they had no warning from Meta. NIKOLAS KOKOVLIS / AFP

The country’s biggest property investor chat group has become another casualty of Facebook’s sweeping suspensions.

Property Investor Chat Group NZ had 73,000 members when it was suspended last week.

Its administrators said they had no warning.

“We are quite strict in regulating content to stay on topic,” one of them, Nick Gentle, said.

“Avoid fights. Post approval to remove anything fishy, and members report anyone sharing dodgy links and those profiles get blocked, so I’ve no idea what rule we broke.”

‘Sometimes Facebook will say ‘we have removed content that went against our community guidelines’ but you can never click in to see what it was to adjust your settings.”

He said they were having trouble reaching someone at Facebook to find out what to do next.

If they could not save the page, they would have to start again, he said.

Group founder Graeme Fowler said it seemed the decision was made by AI.

Alex Sims, a University of Auckland professor in the department of commercial law, said people using tech platforms were generally at their mercy.

“Lots of people and groups get removed from Facebook with no warning. One reason can be Meta’s use of AI, with no human in the loop reviewing the decision. [It] was a real issue earlier in the year, and the issue may still be occurring. There is an appeal process which should be initiated ASAP.

Alex Sims. Supplied

“Given the issues with Meta unilaterally removing groups, it might be a good idea to move to another platform that is not so trigger-happy and also has better privacy protection… The issue is that those other platforms are often not as user-friendly as Facebook and not so familiar for the group’s members, so may be a steep learning curve for the admins and group members. “

RNZ has reported on a number of cases where people have had their social media accounts suspended without a clear reason.

Tens of thousands of people around the world signed a petition advocating for affected users, who said they had been silenced by Meta’s “broken AI enforcement systems”.

Facebook has been approached for comment.

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Pricier properties drive drop in values in Manawatū

Source: Radio New Zealand

The average home value in Manawatū District is now $618,000. RNZ/Calvin Samuel

Property values in Manawatū District have dropped sharply since the last ratings valuation three years ago.

According to Quotable Value, which carries out valuations on behalf of councils, residential property values have shrunk by 7.6 percent since August 2022.

The average home value is now $618,000, while the corresponding average land value decreased by 12.3 percent to $279,000.

QV lead valuer Jason Hockly said while values had reduced, most markets in the Manawatū District had actually been “stable” since mid-2023, with the biggest slide in prices happening in the 12 months prior to that point.

“The Feilding residential market had variable value changes, with the lower-valued residential properties showing slight increases from 2022 compared to higher-valued properties showing moderate decreases since 2022,” he said.

“Some larger residential land parcels, primarily within the northern area of Feilding have shown some large decreases in the land values.”

Commercial and industrial property have seen slight increases (1.6 percent and 6.4 percent respectively), and dairy farms have largely held their value – but other rural properties have taken a hit.

Pastoral properties decreased 10.5 percent, horticultural properties were down by 8 percent, and forestry properties 19.3 percent.

“Lifestyle” properties were also down 10 to 15 percent since 2022, while land values were down 10-25 percent.

New rating values were posted to property owners from 5 November, 2025.

Those who disagree with their valuations can appeal them before 12 December.

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ANZ posts record $2.53 billion profit

Source: Radio New Zealand

ANZ used economic hedges to manage interest rate and foreign exchange risks. RNZ / Marika Khabazi

The country’s biggest bank has reported a record full-year profit largely driven by gains from economic hedges, while lending and margins also increased.

Key numbers for the 12 months ended September compared with a year ago:

ANZ also gained $25 million from money previously set aside for bad debts.

ANZ used economic hedges to manage interest rate and foreign exchange risks, with gains and losses from the hedges reversing over time.

Leaving aside one-offs, ANZ’s cash profit rose 4 percent, with its net interest margin rising by 3 basis points and net interest income rising 4 percent to $4.47 billion.

The bank said customer deposits rose 5 percent, while gross loans and advances increased 4 percent, contributing to overall revenue growth.

Expenses rose 3 percent driven by inflationary pressures.

ANZ NZ chief executive Antonia Watson said banks were a reflection of the economies they operated in, and the result showed New Zealand was turning a corner.

“It has taken New Zealand longer than hoped to recover from the post-Covid rebalancing, but there are now signs the nation’s economy is finally picking up,” Watson said.

ANZ said personal banking income increased 10 percent to $1.24b, while business and agri income was flat at $528m.

Lending to small to medium business (excluding commercial property) rose 4 percent.

“Global uncertainty hasn’t helped but we expect lower inflation and falling interest rates to flow through and boost the recovery as we head into the new year,” Watson said.

She said confidence was returning in regional areas, but Auckland and Wellington, due to the nature of their economies, would take longer to recover.

ANZ’s Australian parent reported a 10 percent drop in profit to A$5.89b, as the group was hit by fines across the Tasman and redundancy costs as it underwent a major restructure.

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